Minnesota Vikings at Atlanta Falcons: Week 12 game review
By Adam Carlson
Nov 29, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Falcons tight end Jacob Tamme (83) is tackled by Minnesota Vikings cornerback Terence Newman (23) during the first half at the Georgia Dome. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
The Bad
- Injuries making the secondary look rough. Harrison Smith was already inactive for the game, but an injury to Andrew Sendejo made things rough. Only Exum and Blanton were left on the rosters as safeties, with Terence Newman playing a hybrid role for the team.
- More stupid penalties. It was hard to watch against the Green Bay Packers and it’s hard to watch again this week. Diggs spinning the ball in a defender’s face was likely an accident, but the Vikings were sill able to drive down the field and finish with a touchdown. Still, they won’t always be able to recover from those flags.
- Blair Walsh with a big field goal miss. I know it’s just one miss in this game, but it’s the larger trend that is disturbing. The Minnesota Vikings offense isn’t good enough to let these points go. They need to take advantage of every opportunity they can in order to win games.
- Can’t find the end zone. The defense has been playing lights-out football. They’re holding teams to very low scores, but the offense just can’t score enough at times to help out. These games would be blowouts if Minnesota were more efficient at scoring touchdowns and even making field goals.
- Far too conservative in 3rd down play calling. I love short passes and easy completions, but on 3rd down, there needs to be some routes on passing plays that go past the first down marker. And running the ball with anyone other than Adrian Peterson feels like the team is waiving the white flag.
Next: The Interestinging